- Trial: Daily pill nearly doubled survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“A novel pill helped people with advanced pancreatic cancer live longer, researchers report, raising hopes of long-needed better treatments for one of the deadliest types of cancer. ‘While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,’ says Dr. Zev Wainberg, of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the study. The drug is called daraxonrasib and it blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases — a target that had eluded treatment for decades. The daily pills nearly doubled survival time, with fewer severe side effects, in a study that randomly assigned the experimental drug or more chemotherapy to 500 patients whose metastatic, or spreading, cancer had quit responding to prior treatment. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.” (05/31/26)
- Israel: Netanyahu vows to expand occupation of Lebanon after deepest incursion in 26 years
Source: NBC News
“Israeli forces have captured a strategic site in Lebanon across the Litani River, marking Israel’s deepest incursion into the country in 26 years. The capture of Beaufort Ridge, the site of a medieval castle, comes after days of intense fighting in southern Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Sunday the seizure marks a ‘dramatic change’ in Israeli strategy. … ‘My instruction is to deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah’s control,’ he added. ‘The occupation of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic change in the policy that we are leading.'” (05/31/26)
- We Must End the TSA “License to Loot”
Source: Independent Institute
by Jim Bovard“For more than a decade, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents have plundered passengers at airport security checkpoints on the flimsiest or most shameless pretexts. If you get stopped at an airport security checkpoint with $100 or more in cash, TSA agents can fleece you. More than 10,000 travelers have been stripped of their money by TSA agents since 2014. But the feds almost never bother filing criminal charges against the victims of asset forfeiture. TSA considers itself generous when it ‘permits the passenger to continue on to their destination’ — after taking away their money.” (05/29/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/we-must-end-the-tsa-license-to-loot
- AI fiction is the new fast food
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle“If the proliferation of AI writing is a problem, it’s not because it’s terrible slop unfit for human consumption; it’s a problem because in some specific ways, it’s too good. It is the literary equivalent of fast food: convenient, cheap, hyper-consistent and relentlessly optimized to tickle our pleasure centers. Sure, AI produces some crazy metaphors and weird hallucinations, because the models have all of our text and none of our context. On the other hand, AI is really good at optimizing for readability, both stylistically and structurally. … as with fast food, what people want now isn’t necessarily good for them in the long run.” (05/31/26)
- Tennessee Celebrates the New-Fangled “Nuclear Family”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The nostalgia for a 1950s ‘mom, dad, two kids, Chevy four-door, well-manicured lawn around a tidy cottage’ way of life is not nostalgia for ‘the old days,’ let alone for the days shortly after ‘the creation of the world.’ It’s nostalgia for post-World-War-2 Pasadena, California.” (05/31/26)
- Trump Loves Accusing Critics of Treason. US Law Makes That Charge Hard To Prove — for Good Reason.
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“The president’s habitual attempts to criminalize dissent hark back to tyrants of yore.” (05/30/26)
- A Nation of Suspects
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano“Some of the recent legal challenges to the use of surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security upon Americans have resulted in the revelation of truly terrifying behavior by the government, in direct defiance of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. We now know that the federal government spies on innocent Americans without suspicion and without warrants.” (05/29/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/05/28/a-nation-of-suspects
- An Iran rebuilt on mercy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Over the past year, two military campaigns against Iran by the United States and Israel never triggered a popular uprising that would fell the Islamic Republic, as hoped. Instead, President Donald Trump has now reached a tentative deal with the regime to address two international concerns: ending Iran’s nuclear program and opening the vital Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Still, many Iranians, especially the millions living abroad, have been busier than usual. They are trying to unite behind new plans for what to do if the government does collapse – notably, how to ensure no violence against the regime and its followers as a way to entice defections. They are heartened by reports of a power struggle in Tehran.” (05/29/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0529/An-Iran-rebuilt-on-mercy
- Ryanair, Easyjet, and just say no to a Financial Transactions Tax
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“Those with long memories will recall the campaign to have a Financial Transactions Tax. Something we were vehemently opposed to no doubt because we’re neoliberals or something. The idea was to have a miserly — say, 0.1%, or 0.05%, that sort of amount — tax on every financial transaction. The claim was that this would not affect ‘real’ trade and would only reduce the amount of speculative froth in the marketplace. Which would, according to the proposers, be good. Because, well, speculative froth and all that. Just capitalists playing with money, see? Except speculative froth does have a point …” (05/31/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/ryanair-easyjet-and-just-say-no-to-a-financial-transactions-tax
- When is enough enough for the Iran war hawks?
Source: The Hill
by Douglas MacKinnon“Many of the those pushing for war over the last few decades were politicians, news editors and pundits thousands of miles from the battlefield. These ‘hawks’ continued their lives of luxury and safety within their bubbles of entitlement while young American troops became the disposable pawns to be moved about the surface of a macabre board game. … as President Trump seeks to find a lasting solution to end the war with Iran, their harsh voices can be heard screeching out their disapproval. Just the very thought of an extended ceasefire is enough to trigger some of the hawks. When is enough enough for the Iran war hawks? Naturally, they will say when Iran is no longer a threat to the U.S. or Israel. But what does ‘no longer a threat’ really mean? And what does the now ubiquitous phrase ‘finish the job’ really mean with respect to Iran?” (05/30/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5900029-iran-war-hawks-debate/
- Warmongers Keep Generating AI Atrocity Propaganda About Iran
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Another AI atrocity propaganda project about Iran has been unleashed, this time in the form of a movie titled ‘Dreams of Violets’ at the Tribeca film festival. … The film’s trailer depicts sympathetic protagonists being brutally victimized by Iranian authorities, and concludes with the image of fighter jets soaring overhead while an English-captioned Persian voiceover says ‘If Iran gets liberated, celebrate for me. Enjoy it for us!'” (05/29/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/30/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“LNC Convention Discussion.” (05/30/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 342
Source: Unattended Baggage
“They walk among us.” (05/30/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-342-they-walk-among-us